Parachute fly-away deployment aid

Abstract

A parachute having a canopy with a number of suspension lines has a pair oflosing flaps attached to opposite sides of the canopy. Holes in flaps match locking loops on an apron and the suspension lines are bighted to hold the canopy shut as the parachute is deployed. The suspension lines are incrementally pulled free from the apron while the parachute skirt remains closed. As the suspension lines reach the locking loops and are pulled free from the locking loops, air enters the skirt to cleanly open the canopy thereby preventing unwanted parachute opening anomalies.

I claim: 
     
       1. A deployment aid for controlling the opening of a parachute having a plurality of suspension lines connected to a skirt comprising: means coupled to the skirt for providing at least one hole therethrough, the providing means is at least one flexible fabric panel having a plurality of holes therein;   means disposed adjacent the hole providing means for extending at least one fabric loop through the hole and provided with a strip of flexible material thereon having at least an opening therein, said extending means is an apron of flexible material provided with a plurality of flexible loops arranged to match and extend through the holes in the panel;   suspension lines shaped into at least one bight that reaches through the fabric loop thereby securing the providing means to the extending means and at least one more bight reaching through the opening to effect the releaseable securing of the suspension lines to the extending means, the suspension lines are configured to present a like number of bights to correspond to the number of loops to each extend through a loop to secure the panel and apron together, the providing means is a pair of flexible fabric panels each secured on the skirt at diametrically opposed locations from each other and each is provided with a plurality of holes therein and the extending means is an apron of flexible material provided with a plurality of flexible loops arranged to match and extend through the holes of both panels when they are brought together to align their respective holes and the suspension lines are configured to present a like number of bights to correspond to the number of loops to each extend through a separate loop to secure the panels and apron together and to bring the skirt to a closed position.   
     
     
       2. A deployment aid according to claim 1 in which the flexible material strip on the apron is configured with a plurality of openings to each receive a bight from the suspension lines to control the deployment of the parachute to line-stretch. 
     
     
       3. A deployment aid according to claim 2 further including: means for releaseably securing the bighted suspension lines associated with the flexible material strip.   
     
     
       4. A method of aiding the deployment of a parachute provided with a plurality of suspension lines connected to a skirt comprising: securing two flexible panels on diametrically opposed positions on the skirt, the panels each having at least one hole therein;   extending a loop from a flexible apron through the hole on both panels after the panels have been brought together and their holes aligned; and   passing a bight from the suspension lines through the loop thereby securing the panels together and the skirt in a closed position.   
     
     
       5. A method according to claim 4 in which the step of passing further includes passing additional bights of the suspension lines through openings provided by a flexible fabric strip on the apron to further assure a deployment from a container that is free of parachute opening anomalies. 
     
     
       6. A method according to claim 5 in which a plurality of holes and loops are provided which are aligned with a plurality of suspension line bights extending through the loops to hold the panels and skirt together and a plurality of openings are provided with a further plurality of suspension line bights to further assure a controlled deployment.